Rep. Bobby Jindal was the first to touch down in Alexandria, arriving shortly after noon to discuss a 24-point economic development plan at the Million Air Terminal that he said would help keep Louisiana's greatest asset -- the state's children -- from moving out of state in search of better jobs.

"Instead of our people complaining about losing people to Texas, I want Texas to complain about losing people to Louisiana," Jindal told a crowd of more than 100 packed into the terminal's conference room.

Jindal's plan to grow the state's economy combines business-friendly tax cuts and incentives with reduced regulations and greater education of the work force.

J.L. Hoyt of Alexandria, 92, said he came to "shake the hand of the next governor of Louisiana."

Whether or not Hoyt was shaking the correct hand would have been contested by about 50 who gathered later in the afternoon on the third floor of the Alexandria International Airport terminal to hear Boasso's education reform plan.

Boasso hopes to raise Louisiana from the near bottom of the country's educational report card with a plan that couples pay raises for teachers and school performance accountability with a system for collecting school disciplinary data to help identify troublemakers.

"We are one of the few states in the nation that doesn't keep track of our schools' disciplinary problems," he said. "We need to know where we stand."

Lester Deville of Deville said Boasso's honest answers are what keep him coming back to the senator's speeches in Alexandria.

"When we come and ask him questions, he tells us the truth," Deville said.